The Royal Institute Of British Architects

The Royal Institute of British Architects is an institute building dating from 1932 to 1934, designed by G. Grey Wornum as the winner of a design competition. It is constructed with a steel frame and reinforced concrete, faced with Portland stone, and has a flat roof. The building occupies two original house plots, extending back to a mews, with a plain annexe fronting onto Portland Place. The architectural style is a Scandinavian-influenced Neo Classicism, notable for its carefully considered proportions and restrained use of formal and sculptural details, designed to emphasize the institutional character while respecting the scale of the 18th-century Portland Place.

The main block is three storeys high, with a concealed third floor and a set-back attic storey. A six-storey annexe is incorporated, maintaining a similar height to the main block's first floor. The front facade is three windows wide, with an eleven-window return and a three-window annexe. A broad, square-headed doorway is centrally located on the rusticated ground floor, featuring a boldly moulded architrave surround and large bronze relief doors by James Woodford, flanked by free-standing sculpted monoliths. A large window extends above the doorway, rising into the blind third floor, with a shallow relief figure carved above. The first-floor windows are tall, the second-floor windows are shorter, and the fourth-floor windows are square, all with shallow architrave mouldings. A plat band defines the top of the ground floor rustication. A sharply profiled crowning cornice tops the building, and the attic storey is set back and plain. The Weymouth Street return features outer windows spaced wider apart, with details similar to the front facade, plus a continuous bronze balcony to the second floor and the blind third floor, adorned with figured bas-relief panels by B. Copnall. The annexe incorporates plain fenestration, with two storeys of windows within the height of the main block’s first floor, separated by balconettes, and plain square windows on the fourth floor. Bronze area railings front both the annexe and Weymouth Street.

The interior, also designed by Wornum and his wife, remains largely unaltered and is characterized by a high standard of finishes and intact fittings. These features include a grand central staircase that leads to lecture halls and a memorial hall, and an excellent use of ornamental engraved and frosted glass. A galleried library is also present. The building reflects Britain in the 1930s.